Obesity arises as a result of accumulation of neutral fat in white adipocytes, due to excessive energy intake over energy expenditure. As has been pointed out, a type of obesity accompanying significant accumulation of visceral fat has some relation with certain pathological conditions such as insulin resistance and arteriosclerosis, and another type of obesity accompanying significant accumulation of subcutaneous fat has become a concern to both men and women from the aesthetic point of view.
Hitherto, it has been widely accepted that obesity can be well suppressed, prevented, or reversed by habitual drinking of oolong tea or eucommia leaf tea. Moreover, for suppressing calorie intake, a variety of means have been implemented; e.g., limiting meals, consuming low-energy foods, and taking appetite suppressors or digestion/absorption suppressors. However, habitual drinking of oolong tea or eucommia leaf tea, or suppression of calorie intake, is not necessarily sufficient for preventing or reversing obesity. In addition, such means is difficult for people to accept as a habit. Furthermore, these means are not a radical solution, as they do not stimulate lipolysis of accumulated fat.
Incidentally, noradrenaline, adrenaline, and similar hormones in the body have conventionally been known as stimulating lipolysis. For example, compounds such as caffeine and theophylline have been reported to stimulate the lipolysis activity of the hormone (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 53-59038). However, long-term administration of such hormones for slimming purposes should be avoided, from the viewpoint of safety.